Carbon Footprint of Rice and Wheat Crop under Conventional and Conservation Agricultural Practices

摘要

Adoption of conservation agriculture practices is beneficial in terms of resource utilization and environmental sustainability. Carbon footprint (CFP) estimation is key to measure the sustainability of rice and wheat crops under conventional and conservation agriculture practices. In the srudy InfoRCT (Information on Use of Resource-Conserving Technologies) model was used to calculate CFP of rice and wheat crops in Taraori village, Karnal, Haryana. The model is programmed in Microsoft Excel containing different parameters organized in different worksheets. Four different technologies were selected i.e. Transplanted rice + Conventionally tilled wheat (TV), Direct seeded rice + Zero tilled wheat with residue retention (T2), Transplanted rice + Zero tilled wheat (T3), Transplanted rice + Zero tilled wheat with residue retention (T4). Results showed that total carbon footprint of rice crop was highest in Tl treatment (0.67 kg C02 eq kg1) and least in T2 treatment (0.38 kg C02 eq kg"1). In wheat, CFP was maximum in conventionally tilled plots (0.09 kg C02 eq kg"1) and least (0.07 kg CO, eq kg"1) in zero tilled treatment with residue retention. Less water use in direct seeded rice (DSR) and less use of farm machinery' in zero tillage treatment in wheatresulted in lower GHG emission thereby lowering the CFP in those treatments. CFP estimation can be used to identify efficient management technologies for crops to obtain higher yield with lower Global warming potential (GWP) values.